I'm building up an 80s Centurion tourer into a commuter for a friend. As he needs a new headset we started talking about what he really needs, other than just eye candy appeal. IMO $100+ headsets, as compared to $40(or less), are hardly ever justified from a mechanical perspective. This isn't a question of sealed vs. open ball(perfectly fine if serviced and adjusted,again IMO), but just what functionally justifies a top dollar model other than their looks. I mean how many thousands of miles(or tens of thousands) are you actually going to put on a headset before you get a new bike with a new headset? I'm not concerned here with hard core mtb use because that doesn't figure into intended use for this bike, or for that matter, most C&V use.

thanks.

Brian

Disclaimer: I have Kings on two of my bikes, but just because I wanted all the components to look "cool".